Feeding mechanism for sheet-cutting machines



April 2, 1929. c J, K 1,707,839

FEEDING ECHANISM FOR SHEET CUTTING IACHINES Filed March 30, 1928 Patented Apr; 2, 1929.

ICE.

7 CHARLES J. BECK, OF PHILADELPHIA, 1ENNSYLVANIA.

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR SHEET-CUTTING MACHINES.

Application filed man so, 1928. Serial mi.- 266,003.

This invention relates to machines adapted for cutting web material into sheets of substantially uniform size, and particularly web material having some form of unitary design successively applied thereto throughout the length of the web.

The object of the invention is to provide a means for regulating the feeding of the web to the cutters of the machine in order that the cut may invariably be made between the design units and that each sheet will have a complete design unit thereon.

Heretofore considerable difliculty has been encountered in attempting to maintain the cut at the desired point, due to slippage of the feeding mechanism relative to the web or to any one of a number of-causes well known to users of this type of machine. Any discrepancy occurring in the position at which the cut is made on one sheet is multiplied on each subsequently cut sheet, therefore, in time, instead of the out being made between the design units the cut will be made through the units, and these sheets will contain a portion of a design unit at one of its ends and a portion of the next adjacent unit at its opposite end.

This difliculty I have overcome by the adoption of the mechanism forming the subject of the present application, the details of the invention being fully disclosed hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sheet cutting machine to which my improved feed controlling mechanism is applied;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear view of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged View of another portion of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on the line 55, Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of a web showing a plurality of design units successively applied thereto.

In the drawings, 1 illustrates the frame of the machine on which is rotatably mounted a cutter frame 2 provided with a blade 3, which cooperates with a fixed blade 4.

The web 2 passes from a source of supply, in the present instance a roll 2 between a pair of cooperating feed rollers 5 and 6, over the fixed cutter blade 4, to a delivery belt. 7. Any suitable formof mechanism may be provided, such as that illustrated at 8, between the feed roll 5 and the source of supply for producing and maintaining a drag on the web 2 in order that the web will be maintained in frictional contact with a goodly portion of the peripheral face of the feed roller 5.

The feed roller 5 is adapted to be carried by ball or roller bearings in the frame of the machine,'and is freely rotatable in the machine, no driving mechanism being provided therefor.

The roller 6 is adapted to be continuously rotated at a predetermined rate of speed by any suitable driving mechanism, not shown. The cutter frame 2 and the cutter blade 3 carried thereby are also adapted to be con tinuously rotated at a predetermined rate ofspeed by any suitable form of driving mechanism, not shown. The relative speed ratio between the feed roller 6 and the'cutter blade 3 is such that for a given number of revolutions of the roller 6 to a single revolution of the blade 3 a portion of the web 2 of a predetermined length will be fed over the fixed cutter blade 4. Upon the completion of such revolution of the blade 3, the said blades 3 and 4 cooperate to shear the said sheet of predetermined length from the web. As the sheets are successively cut from the webthey drop onto the delivery belt 7 and are deposited and stacked in the delivery rack 9.

The mechanism so far described is a common and well known form of sheet cutting machine, and is subject to the objections above referred to..

In accordance with the principles of my invention, I propose to employ as the driven feed roller 6 a radially expandible roller of the type pending application for United States Letters Patent, Serial No. 46,342, filed July 27, 1925, and for the purpose of the present invention I expand this roller slightly so that for a given number of revolutions thereof a slightly greater amount of the web will be fed over the fixed blade 4 than is required for the predetermined length of sheet to be cut.

' As clearly shown in the drawing the freely rotatable feed roller 5 has a greater amount of frictional surface in contact with the web .2 than has the driven roller 6, and in order to regulate the length of the sheet to the desired size I retard the rotation of the roller 5 which causes the surface of the cooperating shown and described in my 00-.

roller 6 to slip relative to the surface of the web, and by accurately controlling the amount of retardation of the roller and consequently the amount of slippage of the roller 6 on the surface of the web the length of the sheets may be minutely Controlled.

For the purpose of retarding the rotary motion of the otherwise freely rotatable feed r0115, I provide a brakeshoe 10 which is rigidly attached to one arm 11 of a lever 12. The lever 12 is pivotally mounted at 13 on the frame 1 of the machine. A second arm let of the lever 12 is pivotally connected at 15 to a block (L' head 16 of a control rod 17 which is rotatably mounted in a bearing 18. The bearing 18 is pivotally mounted in a bracket 20 secured to the frame 1 of the machine. A hand wheel 21 is secured to the outer end of the control rod 17 by means of which the rod can be rotated. Longitudinal movement of the control rod 17'is prevented by collars 22 and 23 which are secured to the said rod adjacent the respective ends of the bearing 18.,

The inner end of the control rod 17 is threaded illustrated at 2 1, in Fig. 2, and the head 16 of the said control rod 1s provided with a threaded aperture 25 which re- ,CQlVGS the threaded end 2 1 of the control rod stance depicting cross-hatching such as used by engineers for sketching purposes. This continuous web .2 is adapted to be cut along the lines 00a1 intermediate the design units (Z, (Z into individual sheets 8, s, Wllltllfll'B adapted to be bound into suitable pads, each sheet 8 containing a complete cross hatched design In operation an operator occupies a position besides the delivery rack 9 and within from its correct position a in the center of the space 3 between the designs (Z, (Z of adjoining sheets 8, .3 toward the forward edge of the design of the sheets being delivered, such change in the position of the cut indicates to the operator that the movement of the sheet is too fast relative to the speed of rotation of the cutting blade 3, he, therefore, turns the handle 21 slightly toward the left, the pointer 28 indicating Retard. Rotation of the control wheel and consequently the control rod 17 to the left causes the head 16 to be moved out wardly on the rod 17, which is held against longitudinal movement, thereby turning the lever 12 on its pivot and applying the brake shoe 10 to the surface of the feed roll 5, which retards the rotation of the said roller and consequently the feeding of theweb .2, the driving roller 6 slipping on the surface of the Web, due to the greater surface contact of the roller 5 with the web 2.

The cut will then move again into the center of the space y after which the operator will move the control wheel until the pointer 28 assumes its neutral position shown in Fig. 5.

If the out should move toward the rear edge of the design (Z-o f the sheets as they are delivered, the opera-torturns the control wheel 21 to the right,the pointer 28 indicating Advance, thereby releasing the brake 10 to some extent and permitting the roller 6 to increase the speed of travel of the web 2 until such time as the cut again assumes its correct position relative to the ed 'e of the design (Z of the shcets'as they are delivered. The operator then returns the control rod to its normal position with the pointer 28 intermediate Re tard and Advance.

From the above description, it will be seen that I am able to minutely. control the position of the cut relative tothe designs (Z, (Z on the web .2. Obviously the design maybe of any desired'character such as those employed in wall paper. In cutting wall paper into sample lengths, it is essential that each sample I contain a complete design and not two sepa-' rated parts of a design, thus it will be seen that my invention is extremely valuable to w ll paper manufacturers in the cutting of their samples.

Obviously the brake shoe 10 may be replaced by a bra'lreband extending around the roller 5, without of the invention.

I claim: r u

1. In a sheet cutting machine. the combination of a freely rotatable feed roller over which a web of material to be cut passes, a continuously rotating feed roller cooperating with. said freely rotatable feed roller for advancing said web, and means for retarding the rotation of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web. I i

2. In a sheet cutting machine, the combination of a freely rotatable feed roller over which a web of material to be cut passes, acon tinuously rotating feed I roller cooperating with said freely rotatable feed roller for advancing said web, means for retarding. the

leparting from the spirit rotation-of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web, and means for varying thedegree of retardation of said freely rotatable feed roller and the web controlled thereby.

3. In a sheet cutting machine, the combinaroller, and means for minutely controlling,

the degree of application of said brake.

4. In a sheet cutting machine, the combinationof a freely rotatable feed roller over which a web of material to be cut passes, a

V continuously rotating feed roller cooperating with said freely rotatable feed roller for advancing said web, means for retarding the rotation of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web comprising a brake for said freely rotatable roller, a pivoted lever for operating said brake, and means cooperatively associated with said brake lever for minutely controlling the degree of application of said brake.

5. In a sheet cutting machine, the combination of a freely rotatable feed roller over which a-web of material to be cut passes, a continuously rotating feed roller cooperating with said freely rotatable feed roller for advancing said web, means for retarding the rotation of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web comprising a brake for said freely rotatable roller, a pivoted lever for operating said brake, a control rod for said lever, a head threaded won said rod and pivotally connected to said lever, and means for rotating said rod for varying the degree of application of said brake.

6. In a sheet cutting machine, the combination of a freely rotatable feed roller over which a web of material to be cut passes, a continuously rotating feed roller cooperating with said freely rotatablefeed roller for advancing said web, means for retarding the rotation of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web comprising a brake for said freely rotatable roller, a pivoted lever for operating said brake, a control rod for said lever, a head threaded on said rod and pivotally connected 7 to said lever, means for rotating said rod for varying the degree of application of said brake, and means for preventing longitudinal movement of said rod while the same is being rotated.

7. In a sheet cutting machine, the combination of a freely rotatable feed roller over which a web of material to be cut passes, a continuously rotating feed roller cooperating with said freely rotatable feed roller for advancing said web, means for retarding the rotation of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web comprising a brake for'said freely rotatable roller, a pivoted lever for operating said brake, a control rod for said lever, a head threaded on said rod and pivotally connected to said lever, means for rotating said rod for varying the degree of application of said brake, means for preventing longitudinal movement of said rod while the same is being rotated, and means for indicating the direction of rotation of said rod for accomplishing certain variations in the movement of said web.

8. In a sheet cut-ting machine, the combination of a freely rotatable feed roller over which a web of material to be cut passes, a

continuously rotating feed roller cooperating with said freely rotatable feed roller for advancing said web, means for retarding the rotation of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web comprising a brake for said freely rotatable roller, a pivoted lever for operating said brake, a control rod for-said lever, a head threaded on said rod and pivotally connected to said lever, means for rotating said rod for varying the degree of application of said brake, a bearing for said rod pivotally mounted on the frame of the machine, and a collar secured to said rod adjacent each end of said bearing for preventing longitudinal movement of the rod.

9. In a sheet cutting machine, the combination of a freely rotatable feed roller over which a web of material to be cut passes, a continuously rotating feed roller cooperating with said freely rotatablefeed roller for advancing said web, means for retarding the rotation of said freely rotatable feed roller for retarding the advancement of said web comprising a brake for said freely rotatable roller, a pivoted lever for operating said brake, a control rod for said lever, a head threaded on said rod and pivotally connected to said lever, means for rotating said rod for varying the degree of application of said brake, a bearing for" said rod pivotally mounted on the frame of the machine, a collar secured to said rod adjacent each end of said bearing for preventing longitudinal movement of the rod, an indicating plate carried by said bearing, and a pointer carried by one of said collars and cooperating with said indicating plate, for indicating the direction of rotation of said conthe movement of the web.

CHARLES J. BECK. 

